


A Dick Of An Overreaction.

by BunnyJess



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Green Arrow (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Red Hood/Arsenal (Comics), Under the Red Hood
Genre: Angst, Bad Brother Dick Grayson, Dick Grayson is a bad friend, F/F, Family, Fluff, Found Family, Frank Iero and The Future Violents - Freeform, Gen, Hurt Dick Grayson, Hurt Jason Todd, Implied Character Death, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, It's JASON, Kissing, M/M, OCD, PTSD, Panic Attacks, Protective Artemis of Bana-Mighdall, Protective Ma Gunn, Protective Rose Wilson, Protective Roy Harper, Stalking, Titans mentions, birth family, in the Batfamily it's how they care, we know it didn't stick
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-04-28
Packaged: 2020-02-08 18:21:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18628717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BunnyJess/pseuds/BunnyJess
Summary: Jason is back in Gotham and Dick has only just found out. He just wants to have a friendly brotherly relationship with the outlaw. Instead of treating the situation like a normal person would, he approaches it in a way only a Bat would. Will Dick learn his lesson?





	A Dick Of An Overreaction.

To say Dick Grayson was pissed would be an understatement. He was royally pissed off in only the way a big brother could be. He’d been hanging around the cave when he overheard Tim making a lunch date. At first he’d snuck closer with the intention of teasing his middle little brother for having a date. Until, that is, that said little brother signed off with a _goodbye Jason, give my love to Roy_. That meant his first little brother was back in Gotham and he had no idea. Not one single clue.

 

He knew he and Jason weren’t as close as the two Robin’s who’d felt violently replaced. Hell, he’d _never_ been especially close with the outlaw. However, he’d thought things were improving. Thought he’d at least get a text to let him know his brother was back in town with his four teammates. Clearly not.

 

Pissed off and running on not enough sleep Dick made a decision. He chose the closest patrol route to Ma Gunn’s and Crime Alley. Even though he knew stepping into those areas could end catastrophically for someone not in The Outlaws. The residents there only had love for their homegrown Outlaw and his team. Every other Batfamily member or visiting vigilante were scorned. The big Bat himself had even been chased out of the area by men with guns, women with bricks in their handbags, and kids with any length of metal they could grab. The mob had been too many for Bruce to take on, especially as they’d all been going about their lives until he’d swooped in with a flair of his cape to stop someone nicking some tires. Or so he’d thought, turned out it was a kid who’d been paid to help change the flats he’d not noticed before diving in in all his overly dramatic glory.

 

Sneaking into the area was one thing. Sneaking into The Outlaws HQ in Ma Gunn’s was another. He had to use all the stealth skills Bruce and Slade had taught him. Being a false apprentice for Slade had been hell but it had improved his stealth skills. After all, you couldn’t hunt down a contract and have them find you.

 

One of the biggest potential problems was the changes in layout. Every Bat and Bird had tried to map the inside since its renovation into the HQ, but Roy has employed a number of technologies that prevent any of their scans from penetrating.

 

The next problem is Ma Gunn herself. Since finding out that Jason is her only grandchild she’s been fiercely overprotective. To the point she used her shotgun on both Penguin and Batman after the details on Willis’ death were exposed. It was obvious that Bruce had known most of Jason’s adoptive life what happened to his birth father and who was really responsible. Safe to say, they’d all been more wary of her since…and not questioned her love or loyalty to the second Robin.

 

It was clear that the building had been turned into a place for them to relax and plan while also holding areas for street kids to come for food or shelter. Stepping through the halls, Dick began checking rooms at a glance. Looking specifically for the book filled PTSD induced OCD room that would signify his little brother. He found the lounge. The rooms that were clearly for Koriand’r and Artemis. He even found Bizarro’s room that was decorated to look like a level from Mortal Kombat. Dick recognised it from the intel Bruce had gathered about The Outlaws where it was highlighted as being a favourite game of the clone.

 

In all his searching he hadn’t found a room for Jason. There had been a bedroom that he’d first suspected as belonging to Little Wing, the neatness giving it away. It had had too many trucker caps hanging from neat pegs filling one wall to be anyone other than Roy’s.

 

Starting his second loop through he saw evidence of Rose regularly staying with Artemis. One of her spare Ikon suits crumpled on the floor.

 

_So the rumours are true then. The mercenaries’ daughter is dating an Amazon._

He even managed to find Ma Gunn’s bedroom. He left quickly when he noticed another door ajar with the sounds of the TV pouring out. The elderly woman clearly waiting up for her grandson to return. Still he didn’t find Jason’s room. All he wanted to do was find out more about his little brother and potentially surprise him by hiding in the closet.

 

Thinking back on his time in the original Titans he realised something wrong with everything he’d seen. There were machine parts littered over their sitting room. The kitchen contained appliances that looked like they’d been hastily shoved in with their plastic casings removed. He remembered the same scenes in the tower. Back then though Roy’s bedroom had also been a bloody mess.

 

Slinking back into what he suspected to be Roy’s room he noticed something he hadn’t the first time. There were huge piles of books on the nightstand and floor on one side of the bed. The other side contained a photo of most of the old Titans. Looking closer Dick realised he’d been carefully cut out from the edge of the photo. It said a lot about the state of his friendship with his old friend that he’d chosen to cut the acrobat out of the photo to display it.

 

Dick opened the closet and started rummaging through the clothes. There was an old hoody he recognised as one of Bruce’s old Princeton ones. Jason had been given it by the Bat not long after moving in. Apparently, the huge size had made him feel safe. Given that he still had it Dick suspected that was still the case.

 

There was a t-shirt he could swear he’d seen Tim wearing in a smaller size recently hanging up too. It was for Frank Iero and The Future Violents most recent tour. Further around the room he found a pair of matching tickets pinned to a board with a photo of Roy, Jason, and Tim grinning wider than Dick had seen from the trio in years. They were sweaty, red-faced, and Tim looked exceptionally knackered, but they looked carefree and (for once) their actual ages. In Roy’s case he looked closer to Jason’s age than Dick’s. It was odd.

 

Looking closer, Dick realised Jason had his arm thrown over Tim’s shoulders but his other wasn’t quite visible. Upon further inspection, Dick noticed Jason’s hand holding Roy’s hip with his arm hidden by the older man. Roy was leaning his body into Jason’s side.

 

Like a freight train had suddenly slammed through the ex-orphanage and into the original Robin; Dick stumbled back. His knees hit the bed and he plopped down onto his arse, his head falling into his hands. It was all too much. Every clue he’d suddenly overlooked in the room was standing out to him as if painted in glow-in-the-dark pain.

 

_Holy shit! Little Wing and Speedy! My little brother and a recovering addict._

 

Thoughts spinning. The same few thoughts swirling around on repeat. Dick could do nothing more than sit on the bed and attempt to prevent a panic attack.

 

He felt cheated. Guilty. Ignored. Scared. Worst of all, with The Outlaws and Tim knowing, he felt rejected.

 

How, just how, could his little brother who’d been orphaned due to drugs possibly love a recovering addict. The acrobat remembered Roy trying to explain to him how addiction wasn’t something you recovered from and moved on. You fight the urges every day. You just find reasons to not shoot up. He guessed one of those reasons was Red Hood. However, it was still his little brother.

 

Did Jason feel he _had_ to care for Roy due to leftover guilt with Catherine? Did he force himself to love another addict to prove it hadn’t been his fault for Catherine overdosing? Did he feel so negatively about himself that he had to go to someone who’d caused Dick so much emotional trauma during their later Titans’ years.

 

A few hours later the light flicked on. Breathy laughs and gasping moans were escaping the obvious sound of kissing. The couple were so caught up in their post-patrol ‘we are alive and not injured’ make-out that they didn’t notice the hunched figure on the edge of the bed.

Shrieking, Dick fell off the bed into an ungrateful heap while Roy and Jason huddled together in the corner furthest away from him. Jason had managed to pull the gun from his nightstand while Roy had grabbed the collapsible crossbow he kept wedged between the mattress and headboard.

 

“Dick?!?” Jason sounded just as startled as the acrobat was feeling. “What the ever-loving fuck are you doing here?”

 

Managing to switch his brain back to Nightwing/protective older brother mode; the last of the flying Graysons stood and dusted himself down. “I overheard Timmy talking to you on the phone and didn’t believe you were back in Gotham. So-”

 

“So you broke into our home, managed to avoid my Abuela. An Abuela whose only love greater than that for her grandson is shooting people who upset him. Then what?” Jason cut in. His voice was dropping to the growl that signified Lazarus was rising. “Decided to sit in the dark in our bedroom and ambush us?”

 

“That’s pretty fucked up dude. Even for you.” Roy _helpfully_ added in.

 

“What? No. No, no, no, no…you’ve got it all wrong Little Wing.” Dick saw the full-bodied flinch that shuddered through Jason at his old nickname and felt like his heart was being twisted by Trigon. “I, uh, I wanted to visit and maybe try to continue building our relationship. You’re family after all Jay.” Again a flinch wracked through Jason at the shortening of his name into one so close to Joker’s shortened name by Harley. “Then I discovered you’d been being _fucked_ ,” he spat it out as if it was oral fear toxin, “by one of my best friends.”

 

“Ex-best friends.” Roy muttered.

 

Dick continued on as if the interruption hadn’t occurred. He was planning on getting around to Roy later. “And kind of freaked out. I mean, what could you possibly see in a druggy who’s nearly a decade older than you?” He sounded so judgemental and incredulous that all the couple could do was stare.

 

Five minutes later, and after multiple ‘[square](https://www.healthline.com/health/box-breathing)’ breaths, Jason was calm enough to answer the idiotic man stood before him. “Okay, time to get a few things through that thick skull of yours.” Jason held up one finger, “one, you ain’t my family. You made it clear to me ‘fore my death that we ain’t family and we still ain’t. Two, Roy’s been clean since Kori an’ I rescued him in Quarac six years ago. Longer actually.” Jason’s Park Row accent (as always happened when his anxiety got too high) was suddenly back with a vengeance. Dick hadn’t heard it since those first few months of the Red Hood appearing in Gotham for the first time and it made him want to step back.

 

“Three; me Abuela, Tim, Cass, Damian, and Talia are me family. Tim and Cass made t’fuckin’ effort with me over the last few years. Damian, I known since he were a babe. Talia has been more a parent to me than any other person _ever_ has. And as for me Abuela, well it might be new, but she loves me more than she e’er did Willis.” Jason suddenly growled. It sounded so close to that of a rumbling lion or a bear about to attack that it sent a shiver down Dick’s spine. “Shit! Fuck! Shit! Roy’s also me family, as are me team. Biz is like me son with Art. Shared custody.” Roy giggled at what was clearly a running joke for The Outlaws while the pallor of Dick’s Romani skin just looked worse and worse.

“Four,” Jason finished with a huff, “did you really think breakin’ inta the only safe place I ‘ave was a good fucking way for us to what, _bond_?” The disbelieving way Jason said the last point was in a similar way he’d have spoken if someone said the Lazarus Pit was just a pool of magic glow stick water that had no side effects.

Hanging his head, Dick felt like he was crumbling from the shame. The guilt. The failure. “Plus,” Jason suddenly added in, “your utter doucebaggery to me Roytoy put ya on me shitlist years ago. Even Tim knows that. Just ask ‘im.”

 

“I’m…I’m _so_ sorry Jason.” Dick whispered into the tense room.

 

“Hood,” Roy spat at his ex-teammate.

 

“What?” Dick was confused. Jason wasn’t in his suit and they weren’t on a rooftop.

 

Roy sighed as if Dick was lacking intelligence or couldn’t grasp an easy concept. “It’s Hood to you. You’re colleges at best, and that’s only when something major happens in this city that requires us working with the Bats. Therefore, it’s Hood to you.”

 

Completely ashamed, Dick took a step back and tried to think of a way to turn this situation around. He nodded and accepted the talking down. “Okay. Hood, I’m sorry I broke in here. I’m sorry I was a shit brother to you.” He took a deep breath to steel his nerves. “I would love to get to know you and your team, even Ma Gunn if you’re all willing. I just, I just want my family back together.” His voice broke at last. The emotions of the last few hours beating his wall of stoicism down.

 

“ART!” Jason bellowed. The Amazon of Bana-Mighdall appeared in a flash, probably having been lurking nearby after hearing the heated voices coming through the cracked door. What Dick didn’t expect to see was her being followed by Rose Wilson and Ma Gunn, shotgun included.

“Nightwing.” The exceptionally tall red-head said. Her voice as cold as ice and body poised to fight. She’d even extended her hand ready to call Mistress if need be.

 

Before she could continue Faye Gunn stepped to the front of the group. “I suggest you leave sonny, otherwise you’ll be going home to Daddy in a bodybag filled with buckshot.”

 

Shuddering, Dick looked back at the couple on the bed. His heart dropped as he saw the utter relief on both men’s faces at the appearance of the three terrifying women. “Get the fuck outta my life ‘Wing and don’t come back.”

 

With those parting words, Dick climbed out the window and up to the roof. He took off at a sprint. Not slowing until he’d reached the top of Wayne Tower on the other side of the city. It was his favourite place to think. To organise the rampant thoughts that often ran through his head too quickly for him to categorise.

 

Tonight had been a disaster. He’d insulted both his brother; no, not his brother, not anymore; and his old friend. The true extend of his failure with the second Robin had finally become clear to him. He’d failed Jason far worse than he’d ever imagined he had, and now. Now, he’d built his own family and the acrobat wasn’t included.

Dawn broke over Gotham with a beautiful array of pinks, purples, reds, and blue. Accompanied by the agonised scream of an acrobat who felt like he’d just seen his parents fall all over again.


End file.
